I’ve just returned from Detroit, where I had the chance to meet a ton of readers and also drive a bunch of different factory-modified Fords. The company is already one of the most polyamorous when it comes to the aftermarket (you can walk into many Ford dealers and find an RTR Bronco or Roush Mustang), and now it’s trying to offer even more choices with a range of options that come either pre-installed or dealer-installed.
A big thanks to Thomas for riding herd on The Morning Dump while I was traveling. It’s not often that I go to track-oriented drives these days, and the weather at Michigan International Speedway was absolutely perfect. Also, they let me do a bunch of launches in our favorite truck, the shorty F-150 FP700S. While doing brake stands was a blast, this is a real economic opportunity for Ford.
Price is obviously an issue, and not everyone can afford to put another $10,000 on top of their existing purchase. Harley-Davidson tried to increase market share by lowering costs and it was successful, if only moderately so. Could Volkswagen do this? Volkswagen probably should have done this, and continues to suffer for seemingly missing the future.
Ford Wants A Piece Of The $57 Billion Aftermarket
One of my favorite things to do when I get to our HQ in Los Angeles is to walk through Galpin Auto Sports and the Galpin Ford lot to see what kind of wild custom cars exist. Galpin has a bit of a candy shop approach to selling cars, and I always find something I become a little obsessed with (I could not convince my family to get a lowered Maverick Hybrid, but I tried).
Not all dealers can do this, I suppose, and taking a page from Galpinization, Ford is investing heavily in rolling out its own aftermarket program via three different channels. The first two you’re already familiar with, which is Ford Accessories for the usual stuff most people want (bedliner, floormats), and Ford Racing for go-fast parts ranging from lug nuts to full crate motors.
“Every single part is designed for customers to get a new feeling out of Ford,” said Matt Simpson, Executive Director of Ford Customization.”These are still backed by the Ford warranty, and that gives customers peace of mind.”
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While Ford has a huge catalog and a lot of models that are just begging to be modified, this isn’t that different from what other automakers offer. Where Ford is differentiating itself is in these mild-to-wild custom builds. On the milder side are more appearance-oriented packages like the Ford Bronco Sinister Bronze, which gets you the Ford Racing 2″ lift and suspension kit, Sinister Bronze accessories, extended fender flares, and the Ford Performance ProCal Tool.
These can be ordered by customers or dealers, and pre-installed or installed by dealers. In fact, almost all of what I saw can be fitted to existing cars either in full or in part, depending on what you want. The cost for the pre-installed Sinister Bronze package is $7,300.
Somewhere in the middle is the Maverick SV300T package, which adds a turbocharger, cooling, and suspension upgrades to make a hot hatch with a mullet. This was a standout to me, and I appreciated that it could be installed on the lower-trim 2.0L AWD XLT Maverick or the super fast Lobo.
I got to drive around an autocross in both a relatively base Maverick XLT and the Lobo fitted with the kit, and both were more fun than a truck needs to be, although the Lobo with the modified rear-drive unit is very Focus RS-like and feels much quicker. Costs are still being worked out, but if you want just the kit it’s about $5,000 before installation.
On the wildest end, I was able to do a couple of laps in a Mustang FP800S, which is an 800-horsepower Mustang with a lot of custom suspension and tuning work to make sure the 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger doesn’t leave you with a ton of power and no way to put it safely to the ground.
I spoke to engineers for both the engine and suspension, and it was clear they took a lot of pride in making this Mustang, which sits alongside the RTR, the Dark Horse, the GTD, and the seemingly endless variants of performance cars you can get from Ford. While the $18,500 cost of the FP800S (not installed) is high, these packages are designed to be cheaper than what you could do yourself, warrantied, and better calibrated from the factory.
“We’re not just slapping a Supercharger on and telling you good luck, have fun, see you later,” said Simpson.
Of course, the other key piece here is that Ford and Ford dealers can roll this into your financing if you’re getting the car new without having to lift a wrench. This could potentially be a huge margin lift for the company, as it’s rare these days to see an unmodified Bronco. The popularity of Bronco Raptors in my suburban neighborhood shows there’s clearly a demand, though I think most people around here probably don’t need a Raptor.
“We can do these highly specialized builds because we’re vertically integrated,” explained Simpson.
Harley’s Plan Is Sort Of Working
As previously mentioned, the plan for Harley-Davidson is to grow the brand by lowering costs and reaching new riders. It’s sort of working.
Reported motorcycle shipments of 39,200 were 9.4% higher than the same period the year before, but missed projections for 40,810. Harley’s revenue of $1.2 billion also missed analysts’ estimates for $1.3 billion in the second quarter.
Shares fell 1% at 9:34 a.m. in New York on Thursday.
Harley reported adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents, beating analyst estimates for 67 cents and raised. The company raised its full-year guidance for motorcycle unit income to between $10 million and $50 million, up from a $40 million loss to a $10 million profit.
So, mixed news, but progress.
Volkswagen, Woof Part 900
Volkswagen, having set expectations as low as possible, has somehow come in even lower as CNBC reports:
Europe’s biggest carmaker posted an operating profit of 3.5 billion euros ($3.98 billion) for the April to June period, down nearly 10% from a year ago and missing expectations of 4.3 billion euros, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.
The company also flagged it expects sales revenue in 2026 to see a decline of up to 3% this year, versus a previous forecast of sales revenue growth of up to 3%.
Woof.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
“Black Hole Sun” is one of those songs that doesn’t really match the rest of the artist’s catalog, as it’s way more alt-rock than what Soundgarden usually offers, but this doesn’t mean it’s not an all-time jam and an all-time video.
The Big Question
Have you ever modified a vehicle? How?
Top graphic image: Ford
The only mod anyone ever needs is the…FUEL SHARK! It’s so AWESOME and I’m so impressed with mine…I can’t believe how much gas I save, it’s “INCONCEIVABLE!”
Black Hole Sun is an amazing song…I just watched the video again recently and it’s still so trippy. That is a great album. I remember when that song was on the charts in the 90’s…what a great era of music
I don’t own a vehicle without modifications, although most aren’t necessarily performance related.
My daily is mostly stock, except for signals/brake being converted to brighter LEDs, the grill and side mirrors replaced with black instead of body color parts (Magnetic Gray Metallic), and aftermarket black 5spoke wheels for summer use. The stock silver wheels are wrapped with snow tires.
GMT400 has a full lighting conversion to LED signals/brake, lowbeams stay on when highbeams are triggered, and glass lens headlight housings to replace the faded plastic prismatic lens stock units. Head Unit replaced with a modern bluetooth single din. Wheels swapped to 2014 Silverado 18’s with 275/60/R18 rubber. ECU retuned for better towing and higher highway MPG.
Z3M has a full LED conversion for signals/brake, electric fan conversion, seat track fix, rear suspension bushing upgrade, same head unit as the GMT400, and Bilstein B8 shocks/struts all the way around.
Foxbody drag car is well, almost completely aftermarket at this point. 545ci Big Block Ford, Megasquirt 2 EFI, LS style port fuel injection, LS coilpack ignition, list goes on.
For everyone that says ‘mods don’t add value’, of course they don’t as a general rule. Modding is personalizing, whether it’s a performance mod or not. The odds someone wants the exact mod you did, the way you did it, is tiny. A perfect exception to the rule is the the Randy Forbes Z3M subframe reinforcement kit. It’s likely to pay for itself or add value to a nice example as it corrects a known major defect.
Ah yes, because modifications famously increase the value of your car, totally justifying rolling the cost into your financing.
/s for those who are not aware that modifications typically reduce the value of a car, and certainly do not increase it as much as the modifications cost. This is an excellent way for people to be even further underwater on their bad loans.
This is highly dependent on the type of modification. Cheap fiberglass body kit on your Civic? Probably reduce the value of your car. OEM engineered and installed supercharger on your Mustang? Probably increase the value of your car, but obviously not as much as the cost of the package. These offerings are pretty much equivalent to new trim levels for vehicles, offered by the OEM and fully backed by warranty. It isn’t the same as slapping cheap AliExpress parts on your junker.
I put a hot air intake on my Mazda Protege5 in college. It succeeded in lightening up my wallet at least.
The only cars I’ve owned that I didn’t modify are my wife’s….
I even have bought parts for cars before I bought the car. At a minimum the cars will get different wheels. Most have gotten a sway bar, and some sort of suspension upgrade via different shocks, springs, camber plates. The 2 of the 3 turbo ones have gotten flash tunes and Intercoolers. My NA Miata is about to get an engine swap from an NB, it’s already got the rest of the “My First Track Car” set up.
My new car, GR Corolla, that just got built on the 15th will only be getting wheels, tires, and the camber bolts. For what it’s worth it does have the port installed Cat Back Exhaust, and circuit wing already installed. I’m keeping it in the stock autocross class for as long as its competitive. After that point it is getting my typical stuff of coilovers and track day cooling parts.
I don’t have a problem I swear
This is an absolutely genius plan by Ford. Make the customer replace (at a premium) all the defective parts Ford put on it to begin with, and they don’t have to do anymore recalls. Genius!
My first car was a 1966 Ford Thunderbird, which I intended to make a solid daily driver out of, necessitating a few modifications since this was in 2017 and not the 70s.
Had to replace the fuel pump with a modern version so I could run the car on ethanol gas if necessary.
Replaced the model-specific turn signal relay with a $100 solid-state modern replacement when the signals started acting up. The only car where a signal relay ISN’T one of the cheapest and easiest things to replace…
Ripped out the original radio to install a modern one which promised to be a direct replacement, which was a lie, as the wiring was not remotely similar enough to be plug-and-play, so I never finished that swap and the interior of that car is still a mess to this day for that reason.
Most important mod was replacing the original soft valve seats with modern hardened ones when rebuilding the engine. Had no idea that was a thing when I first bought the car, but quickly learned almost every classic car needs that modification if you don’t want modern gasoline to destroy the valve seats and wreck your compression ratios.
The car also had a four-barrel carburetor and aluminum intake which were not stock, but not installed by me, although I had to replace the aluminum intake with a new one because the old one cracked and kept introducing air bubbles to the cooling system so it’d puke coolant everywhere when I parked the car.
I put seat covers on my Fit’s front seats. Woohoo!
Replaced 13″ wheels on the Del Sol with 14″ wheels. LOL.
I think the most I’ve done modifying a car is getting custom-fit rubber floor mats, but they were a big change. Makes the car feel better in a significant way.
Considered switching to standard-profile tires and getting nicer speakers, played around with OBD + Android-based custom dash via phone mount, but never got anywhere with any of it. I’ve always thought about more than I actually do. Partly because that’s just how I am, partly because money.
TBQ: I put a little rainbow flag on the dash. And replaced a crappy stereo and speakers with slightly less crappy stereo and speakers (pro once, dig once). But that doesn’t really count as modding, does it.
There are a few cars I’ve not modded.
Otherwise, of course I’ve modded them.
Converted a 61 Apache to run on propane. Good ranch truck. Not a lot of hp, but a shit ton of torque, and a granny gear.
Put lift on every 4×4. usually just a couple inches, but added a total of 10 inches to a 97 4 runner.
“Have you ever modified a vehicle?”
My first car, a ’94 Ford, had a great Auto-Dimming rearview mirror made by a company called Gentex and it spoiled me for the rest of my car owning career. I’ve got a Country Squire, a Geo, and a Honda Element, all of which have had Gentex auto dimmers from various generations of Fords fitted in them. They’re brilliant and just work.
And in a true display of it being a small world, it turned out one of the guys I play videogames online with is a Gentex employee.
“Have you ever modified a vehicle? How?”
I’m more of an accessories guy than an outright mod guy.
When I had my ancient Volvo 144S, I replaced the single roundish chrome exterior mirror with a pair of Baby Tornado mirrors, replaced the AM radio with single dash speaker with AM/FM and a rear deck speaker – and used beach towels clipped on with bungee cords as seat covers.
For my ’89 Mercury Tracer, I put in fog lamps, a Sony CD Stereo, a set of faux-sheepskin front seat covers, and a pop-up glass sunroof.
The 1980 Honda Prelude XE I had in Tokyo gained a Sony CD player on a flexible gooseneck mount and a cassette plug-in adapter. It worked pretty well due to the air-shocks in the mount keeping the CDs from skipping.
For the ’97 Ranger XLT, I had the dealer put in a below-bed-rail bedliner – and I added a rainbow sticker to the tailgate.
With my Mercedes-Benz, I plugged in a Bluetooth receiver to the iPod port, added a set of Coco-Mats, plugged a USB port into the cigarette lighter, installed a Ring Car Cam, have gone thru a succession of phone mounts (am now on a very simple and grippy dash top mount – no clips, cups or things to adjust or AC vents to block/break – and went from Pirellis to Vredesteins.
“Ford Wants To Create Its Own Giant Aftermarket Universe”
Great! They can start with head gaskets so their trucks don’t blow coolant out the exhaust like those in the top shot.
:p
TBQ replaced points with an electronic module on my TR3 which helped its reliability. Very much worth the hundred bucks.
Replaced the stock radio in my Mazda5 with an aftermarket 7″ touchscreen. That one chance completely transformed the driving experience for the better.
Other than that not really. Unless the mod improves reliability, comfort or fuel efficiency I don’t see the point. Cars are already powerful enough to do their jobs and mods usually just make them less able to do that job.
Shortly after Chris Cornell died, I went to a Peter Frampton concert (and The Steve Miller Band). Peter Frampton played Black Hole Sun, it was pretty amazing.
Anyway to answer your actual question. I modify pretty much all my vehicles. Typically I start with suspension and tires, and follow a general rule: if it’s a 4×4 truck lift it, if it’s a car or 2WD lower it. I also tend to do audio upgrades and a Bluetooth head unit if necessary. Also brighter auxiliary driving lights if necessary. I guess I spend enough time driving in dark, rural areas that the extra lighting helps, plus it looks cool.
As far as power mods, I don’t go for these as often but am working on swapping in a 3.0 H6 into my 2004 Subaru Legacy (since you could not get the 3.0 with a manual in the US). My 7.3 Powerstroke F-250 has a tuner, exhaust, intake and some light turbo modifications, but it’s still slow. I usually keep the tuner in stock or a low setting, otherwise it just smokes and that drives me crazy.
Oddly enough my most stock car is my WRX. It’s my daily and I don’t feel it needs more power and the suspension is well matched to my use, so I’ve left it alone for the most part.
I’m not much of a classic rock guy (though I do like Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson) but Frampton always seemed like a mensch to me.
Good for ford. Sounds like a great idea. Car modifications, wow so many. I’ll hit the high points. Many engine swaps, as well as transmission swaps. Most notable where SBC into TR6 and 240Z. Custom steel flares on the same along with paint and bodywork to make them straight. Rebuild/replaced the TR6 electrical system so it didn’t leak smoke. Same with my TR7. Built a high rev, high HP 440 6pack engine for my Dodge Challenger. Similar with my Olds 442. Rebuilt the trans in the olds with a shift kit and hp clutches. Swapped out ring and pinion on both olds and dodge for higher ratios. And so on for pages.
VW needs to get a plan together and execute. They are thrashing about and not keeping focused. Too many brands with too many products eating too much time and resources.
I personally don’t care about HD.
Soundgarden is great. Wish I could have seen them live.
Reminds me…. I once saw Soundgarden live. I want to say it was at “Monsters of Rock” or “Day on the Green”. It was a huge show at the Oakland Coliseum with ~10 big acts but then this band I’d never heard of (Soundgarden) came on and sounded like complete ass. This was the same show that Queensryche and Metallica had just sounded absolutely AMAZING, live. In the weeks following, I bought Superunknown and loved it but man, their sound guys for that big show really, REALLY sucked.
It happens. Might have been a rig the sound guys were not familiar with, or the venue wasn’t cooperating. So many things can impact you.
Getting good sound in an open air arena is HARD.
Yes
TBQ: Yes. In fact, most of the vehicles I’ve owned have been modified in some way. Many audio upgrades over the years, cosmetic dress-ups, feature adds from higher trim models. There haven’t been too many swings-and-misses that made them objectively worse, except for LED headlamp bulbs that oncoming drivers did not favor and were put back to halogens.
My Ranger reflects those previous years of experience and has been a slow build. It was a near base-model XL trim with a few hand-picked options. Since then it has gotten, in no particular order:
ARE bed cap
OEM step bars
OEM mud guards
Tailgate lettering applique
F.A. alarm and remote start
F.A. trailer brake controller
Additional bed tie-down hooks
F.A. bed lighting kit
Clearview tow mirrors
LED exterior lighting (except for the low beams – see above)
F.P. PCV oil separator
F.P. 93 octane map
OEM engine cover
On the wish list:
Android Auto head unit
17″ wheels/tires
Cat-back exhaust
High-capacity transmission oil pan